Barbra Streisand donates $5 million to hospital

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Barbra Streisand has donated $5
million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a
women's heart education and research program, the hospital said
on Wednesday.

The gift will create permanent funding for the Barbra
Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education at
Cedars-Sinai, and the hospital said it would expand research
efforts there.

"Women need to be educated about female cardiovascular
disease and the medical community must be propelled toward
change," Streisand, 65, said in a written statement.

"Just like with breast cancer the impetus must come from
women themselves striving to become empowered to reduce their
risks for heart disease," she said.

Streisand, a native of Brooklyn, New York, who first won
fame as a singer in the early 1960s, has won multiple Grammy
Awards. She has also won two Academy Awards and several Emmy
awards for her acting.